


The Next of Us

by IronShieldGal



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: After the part 2 trailer, Gen, Maybe it's bad it's written in 30 mins don't judge me, Stealthy Ellie, badass ellie, the fireflies done fucked up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-06-19
Packaged: 2018-11-16 04:29:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,582
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11246343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IronShieldGal/pseuds/IronShieldGal
Summary: The fireflies fucked up really bad this time.Ellie found them, and now she's going to kill them.





	The Next of Us

The sunset makes the lone skyscraper stand out even more than usual. It’s the middle point of the fences that are built along the settlement, and it’s only accessible by a maze of heavily patrolled streets that weave through the city like a spider web.  
She clears her throat, trying to wash the dust of weeks of travel out of her throat without water and is mostly unsuccessful. Still, she doesn’t have much water left so she’d better save it for when she found him –god knows how well he’s been taken care of the past few weeks.  
Determination fills her as she reloads all her guns and checks her supplies. She crafts a Molotov and tucks it unlit into her backpack.  
She has fourteen shotgun rounds, seven rifle bullets, twenty-four bullets for the 9mm pistol, three bullets for the revolver –she wasted most of her supply on that pack of clickers along the way- eight bullets for the shorty and four for the El Diablo. She had nine arrows and no flamethrower fuel –she’d stashed the weapon in a tree a few hundred feet from here. It won’t be of any use against humans and it’ll only weigh her down.  
She checks her switchblade –Joel got her a new one recently, it’s bigger and sharper than her old one, which broke after she stupidly tried to stab a Bloater with it. It’s clean and sharp, ready for use. She tucks it in her belt.  
She has two nail bombs, three med packs, two Molotov’s, a brick and one smoke bomb. No matter how many damn fireflies are in this settlement, she’s prepared and she’s going to kill all of them.  
It had taken so long to find out where they kept him, she’d tracked and tortured and killed so many Fireflies on her way here but she finally found someone who could tell her, and here she is.  
Some part of her thinks she should’ve stayed at the settlement. She still thinks of it as Tommy’s, even if the man has been dead for weeks now. The fireflies breeched their wall, killed everyone in their path, took him from her, and then they left as quickly as they came. The settlement was in ruins, Maria was devastated and Ellie left them all to rebuild on their own, just so she could track him down.  
Maria didn’t blame her. Nobody blamed her. They gave her supplies –as much as they had- and sent her off, wishing her the best of luck.  
She doesn’t need luck. She has skill –everything Joel taught her, and now she’s going to use it.  
She’s perched on the city wall, just out of view of the closest guard’s patrol round, and she looks over the network of streets and houses that lead to where she wants to go: the tower.  
She smiles to herself, pleased with the promise of blood and revenge, and then she drops down to the roof below her. 

It’s not hard to jump from rooftop to rooftop, but when she’s on the fifth roof she’s facing a dilemma. Does she kill the guard, or does she sneak past him?  
If he dies, the others might notice he’s gone and they might come investigate. However, if he lives, that’s a loaded gun she’s turning her back to. One well-aimed shot and she’s dead.  
She scratches at her bite, now concealed by her vine tattoo, as she thinks.  
Joel would know what to do.  
She shakes herself –it’s been five years since she was fourteen years old and she followed Joel through the country. She’s now big, old, and strong enough to handle it herself.  
So, Ellie, she thinks to herself, what would Joel do?  
The guard walks past the building she’s hiding on, turns full circle to see what’s around him, and then he turns around and walks back. When he’s about a stone throw away, Ellie lowers herself so she hangs on to the roof with her fingertips. Her feet find a windowsill and slowly she climbs down.  
When she hits the ground she immediately crouches towards the window, checks to see where the guard is, and then hits the window with her brick when she deems him far enough away. The window shatters and she quickly climbs through. She lowers herself to the ground so anyone looking through the window could only see her if they looked right down.  
She listens to his footsteps as he comes back, and when they stop for a few seconds, and then continue in the direction where he came from, she vaults through the window and quickly but quietly crouches after the guy. When she’s close enough she takes out her switchblade. As she reaches up and places an arm around his throat –her hand on his mouth- she switches out the blade and then buries it in his neck. He goes down without making any noise. She quickly drags him back to the house and dumps him through the window. She climbs through, too, and quickly searches the house and the soldier.  
There’s bullets in his revolver and she takes all seven of them. That makes ten revolver bullets, she adjusts the tally in her head. It’s important to know how many bullets you have –that was one of the first things Joel taught her.  
She reloads the revolver and puts the leftover bullets in her bag. There’s nothing much in the house that’s salvageable, but she finds a lead pipe that she could use to really hit someone with if she wished to.  
She isn’t able to climb back up to the rooftop so she carefully sets out on the streets until she encounters the next patrol. There’s two people now, on a crossroads. They’re talking –seems like a guy named David recently returned to the settlement with ten cans of food.  
She might enjoy learning that there’s food somewhere in the city –obviously there is, but she needs to steal some for the road home. Or just take it, if she decides to kill all of them. The name “David” still sends shivers down her back, though. It’s been five years, and he might be long dead, she still has nightmares about him sometimes.  
She waits until they split up, with their backs towards each other, then she takes aim at the one on her right. Her bow sings and by the time the arrow pierces the guy’s neck, she’s already aiming at the woman. She loosens this arrow too, but immediately knows her aim’s off. She reloads and releases another arrow. The second arrow doesn’t pierce her head before she’s let out a cry of pain from the arrow in her chest, and Ellie hides. Nobody comes, though, so after a few minutes of waiting she sneaks out there and retrieves her arrows –the one in the woman’s chest broke, so now she has eight arrows left- and pulls some rags from the man’s pocket.  
She leaves their firefly pendants. She knows Joel collected them, but the only one she has and ever wants to have is Riley’s.  
She continues and with every arrow she lets fly, with every time she takes out her switchblade, she gets closer to the tower. She gets closer to him.  
It’s almost completely dark by the time she rounds the corner to the tower’s street. She can’t see how many people there are, but that means they can’t see her either.  
She takes it slow and steady, but she’s in front of the building before she knows it. She’s easily able to slip inside and she’s confused –is their security really this bad?  
She doesn’t dwell on it. She’s inside the building, now she needs to know where he is. She hides behind a desk until someone comes past –it takes a while and she almost dozes off twice, but when steps sound from the stairwell, she’s ready to go. She moves quickly and has a hand on the man’s mouth and her switchblade pressed to his neck before the man is halfway through the lobby. She takes him to a broom closet she found and pushes him in. “You’re gonna be very quiet,” she warns him, and then she notices how young he is –maybe even younger than she. He nods nervously, and she plays with her switchblade. “I want all your weapons on the floor, now,” she whispers, and a knife plus a gun are carefully placed on the tiled floor. She nods. “Now, you’re gonna tell me where he is –you know who I mean, don’t even try to play dumb,” she threatens him, and he swallows. “If you tell me, I’ll let you live. I’ll tie you up in this closet, of course, so you can’t warn anyone. Then, if your information was correct, you won’t see me again. If what you told me wasn’t true, I’ll come back, and believe me I know how to make your death bloody, painful and silent,” she stares at him, and the boy nods. “He’s, eh, he’s on the fourteenth floor,” he whispers, “from the stairs you go left, then you go that way until you can’t anymore. There’s a metal gate there, if you have the keys you can proceed. I know he’s there somewhere –but I don’t know where exactly! David is one of the only ones with the keys, and the only one who’s in the building right now. He’s probably on the thirtieth floor somewhere –his office is there,” the boy whispers quickly, as in one breath. Ellie nods and takes in the information. David again. Well, it might be unfair to him, but she’ll look forward to stabbing him. “How do I recognize David?” she asks. The guy frowns. “He has red hair and also a long, red beard. He has tattoos on his hands –I believe they’re skulls but I’ve never really talked to him and I’ve never seen his hands, please don’t hurt me,” he adds the last thing as Ellie throws her switchblade from her left hand to her right. She pushes the blade back into it’s casing and then she pockets the knife. She nods to the boy and motions for him to sit down on the floor. She kicks his knife and his gun to the other end of the room, then starts tying him up with the amount of tape she’s got in her bag. The guy doesn’t even protest once. Finally she puts some tape over his mouth, grabs his gun and his knife, pockets the weapons and she leaves the broom closet.  
Thirtieth floor. That’s damn high up, and she can’t hide on the stairs. She starts out with her gun in her hand, ready to shoot at the first sign of trouble. She goes slowly in the hope of hearing footsteps before someone encounters her. But, it seems like there are no patrols on the stairway so she reaches the floor with the big 30 without any trouble.  
Their security is very bad, she thinks to herself, and then she grins. Or maybe Joel taught me that well, is her follow-up thought.  
She hears noises to her right, so she heads in that direction. She recognizes the noises and tries very hard not to be repulsed by the moans and groans –or worse, she tries not to giggle. She stops at the room where the noises are coming from and waits a while with her ear on the door. She feels slightly awkward listening to this, but she needs to. She needs those keys, so if she could just find out if David is the guy who’s busy in this room, that would be great.  
“Eva, oh Eva,” she hears and she pulls a face. That’s one name, but not the one she wanted. “Shut up and do me properly, David,” is snapped back, and Ellie bites her lip not to giggle as she slowly opens the door.  
There –against the desk, both of them with their backs to her.  
And, next to her, clothes. The belt holds a keyring, and she takes it silently. Her switchblade burns in her pocket, but she shakes her head to herself.  
This is not the same David, she tells herself. You have what you came here for, now let’s leave before they’re done.  
She closes the door softly and almost runs back down to the fourteenth floor.  
She finds the gate, and the right key for it. She wanders through a hallway with cages on both ends, and then crying reaches her ears. She runs, and then she turns a corner and there he is.  
Her little boy.  
Two nurses –or what she assumes are nurses- are in the cage with him, and they’re probably trying to stop him from crying. Ellie whips out her revolver and her 9mm pistol, and aims at both the women at the same time. “Put him down, now,” she says, her voice ice cold.  
The women turn around, scared, and after a moment of debate, she puts the kid down. Her little boy Riley looks at her and a smile breaks out on his face. “Mommy?” he asks, and she smiles back at him while keeping her eyes and guns on the two women. “Yeah, baby. I’m gonna get you outta here, alright,” she says, and the boy smiles wider. “Mommy!” he almost howls happily.  
“You, you can’t have him,” one of the nurses dares to say. “He’s going to save the entire human race! We can get the vaccine!” she says, and Ellie shakes her head. “Listen, five years ago the fireflies could’ve gotten the vaccine from me, and Joel stopped you guys. Now, I’m stopping you. You don’t even know for sure if he’s immune! Plus the cordyceps mutated after I was bitten, that’s how they were going to make a vaccine. What were you going to do, let him get bit and then hope he was immune?” The silence tells her enough.  
“You were going to let my baby get bit, then you were going to kill him to get to his brain so you could make a vaccine?” anger is bubbling inside her, but she has to keep calm. She doesn’t want Riley to freak out.  
“Humanity is already lost. There’s almost no one left, and even if you got a vaccine, there’s still the dangers of being torn apart by a pack of clickers. Most people who get bit don’t survive long enough to turn anyway. You’re fighting a lost cause. Now, I’m taking him with me and you’re not going to raise any alarms, all right?” she says. The nurses nod and slowly back up until they are standing at the back wall. “Hey Riley, honey, can you do something for me?” she asks. The boy looks up at her eagerly and nods. “Go left at your room and then walk until you get to the gate, alright? Wait there for me, baby,” she says. The boy hugs her leg, and then presses his face against her. “I wuv you, mummy,” he says, and then he hobbles off.  
Ellie smiles and puts her guns away. She grabs her bow, instead. “I’m sorry, but I can’t let you live,” she says as she puts an arrow on her bow. She aims for the first nurse’s head and fires, then quickly fires another arrow at the other nurse’s head. “You’d just come after him.”

**Author's Note:**

> So basically what's going on is that Ellie had a kid, fireflies found out that the immune girl had a kid, so they raided Tommy's to get the kid. Ellie is mad, finds a group of fireflies, finds out where they are keeping her kid, and that's when the part 2 trailer happened. 
> 
> I was having a writer's block for my own original story so I just sat down and started writing. This came out of it. It was literally written in 30 minutes so don't judge too much please. 
> 
> Also I'd see Ellie naming her kid (no matter what gender) Riley. Because why the fuck not. :) Hope you enjoyed!


End file.
